Parental worry about children: Scale development and validation among Chinese parents of preschool children

Chinese parents tend to exhibit a high level of worry about their children during the preschool years, which may adversely influence children's mental health. Few studies have investigated the content and intensity of parental worry about children among Chinese parents of preschool children. This study developed and validated the Parental Worry About Children Scale (PWCS) for Chinese parents of preschool children. A pool of 70 items was created after an open-ended questionnaire survey of 1069 Chinese parents of preschool children and an Internet-content analysis, followed by an assessment for content validity by eight experts. Exploratory factor analysis was then conducted with 680 Chinese parents of preschool children, resulting in the formal PWCS consisting of 40 items in four dimensions: physical well-being, psychological well-being, learning/living abilities, and future/uncertain risks. With a sample of 1548 Chinese parents of preschool children, the PWCS demonstrated good structural validity, internal consistency reliability, measure invariance across mothers and fathers, and criterion-related validity. The PWCS may help elucidate the characteristics and antecedents of parental worry about children and the mechanisms underlying its influence on children's mental health in the Chinese context. In clinical practice, this new instrument may facilitate the emergence of effective intervention strategies for alleviating parental worry about children and its negative impact on children's mental health.